BY CASEY MINER AND HUDA AHMED  The 12th St. corridor in Oakland is a 12-lane freeway sandwiched between two perfectly normal city streets. There are no crosswalks or traffic lights, but morning commuters don’t care; the quickest way to BART is to look both ways and hope for the best.

Oakland’s “Unity for the Sake of Change” Presidential Inauguration
Community Viewing at the Oracle Arena
January 20, 2009
Presented in part by Alameda County Board of Supervisor’s Keith
Carson, District 5 Supervisor.

By Anna McCarthy/510 Report
“Happy New Year’s Eve, I love you, and may God Bless Your Family.”
That was the text that Cephus Johnson said he sent to his nephew, 22-year-old Oscar Grant III, at 12:49 a.m. on Thursday.  But Grant never responded, and a little more than an hour later he was shot in the back and killed on the Fruitvale BART station platform by a BART police officer, according to cell-phone videos and eye-witness accounts of the incident.
BART officials said there is no video footage of the incident available from …

By Amanda Dyer
Explore life on Telegraph Avenue and in People’s Park.

By Mateen Kaul –
The Indian community gathered in large numbers at the Milpitas Indian Community Center on Thursday, December 4, to remember the victims of the militant attacks in Mumbai.
CLICK TO LISTEN

By Amanda Dyer  – 
While tight budgets are forcing many schools to scale back art programs and concentrate on higher test scores, at least one Oakland elementary school has sustained its program through creative fundraising.
In its latest attempt, Peralta Elementary School challenged eight artists to create eight pieces of work in eight minutes.
The event, a paint-splattering free-for-all, raised $5,700 for the school.

By Angela Kilduff
Like any superhero, mystery surrounds the true identity of the Vagina Lady. She makes appearances at Bay Area events wearing a cape and a plush, pink vagina costume nearly as tall as she is. Even among the unusual characters San Francisco is known for, she stands out in a crowd.
In her other life, Julie Vanadis, 30, is a writer and editor. Her co-workers don’t know about the character she plays, so she uses an alternate last name in interviews.  She prefers to keep her personal life and role …

Photos and Story by Linsay Rousseau Burnett
Robert Wesner, 39, sat hunched over his sewing machine, his waist-long hair pulled back in a half ponytail, while a topless woman laced up a leather corset behind him. Wesner, owner of Leather Mystics, began stitching together his sixth leather choker of the night. Laughing, he said that he never would have believed this is where his life would end up: “It’s not like you grow up thinking, ‘Geez, I think I’ll be a bondage leather specialist.”